by Rob L.R.

Part 3 of Sorting Through the Undead: An overview of the (self-proclaimed) communist formations in Canada, a 4-part series by Rob L.R. Part 1. Part2. Part 4.

R.I.P. the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP), Revolutionary Initiative (RI), and their weird spin-offs

After Canada’s second party-building movement collapsed in the early ’80’s, it took a solid two decades for a third one to emerge. The ’80’s and ’90’s were a counter-revolutionary period, with capitalism on the rise and socialism on the decline. The revisionist “socialist” countries fell into crisis, Soviet social-imperialism met its maker, and US imperialism became the world’s most dominant force by-far. Under the direction of US imperialism, the modern variants of the Wars on “Terror” (on oppressed nationalities and oil-rich countries) and on “Drugs” (on poor, exploited peoples) began to take shape.

Additionally, the peoples of Canada experienced the emergence and height of neoliberalism. This revamped, State-capitalist way of running things brought about: deindustrialization through the massive exporting of factories and the means of production; the further domination of US-imperialism through the enactment of the North American “Free Trade” Agreement (NAFTA); cuts to social services; and a massive increase in wealth inequality and concentration of power into fewer and fewer hands.

Meanwhile, the socio-economic position of French-speaking workers (and capitalists), in particular the Québécois, had risen to match or even surpass those in English-speaking Canada. Québec saw two referendums for independence (1980 and 1995), both of which failed to pass. By the turn of the century the changed political and economic position of Québec basically signaled that the Anglo-Canadian and Québécois bourgeoisie had reached a (somewhat shaky) power-sharing agreement. Québec had categorically become a fellow imperialist, oppressor nation.

The early 21st century would see two main communist formations emerge in Canada:

• le Parti communiste revolutionnarie – Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP), and
• Revolutionary Initiative (RI)

The PCR-RCP formed out of some Québec-based revolutionary organizations. Throughout the ’90’s Action Socialiste,¹ and other smaller organizations dominated by university students and working professionals, stumbled around before aligning behind the need to build a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist-Maoist² Party. In November 2000 they got together in Montréal and united as the Parti communiste révolutionnaire Organizing Committees.

2000 to 2010: Its Good ol’ days

The Organizing Committees’ main goal was to develop the ideological, organizational, and logistical capacity to form a Party. They worked towards this for over half a decade before fully consolidating as the PCR-RCP in late 2006/early ’07. At its formation the new Party was still limited almost entirely to Québec (mostly Montréal). Yet at the same time it had made some qualitative leaps and was beginning to come off the campuses and into the working class.

The PCR-RCP was distinguished by its program of “protracted people’s war”; a revolutionary strategy that’s only applicable to oppressed countries with a large rural peasantry. It does not apply to advanced imperialist countries with a predominantly-urban population (despite the Party’s weird attempts to stretch it to Canadian conditions).

It’s far-“Left” program also raised the tactic of electoral boycotts to the level of principle. It idealistically believed that Canada’s low voter turnout (usually 40-70%) meant that the peoples of Canada largely rejected bourgeois elections completely. But in reality, in addition to being repeatedly duped and lied to, a populace has to see a viable alternative before simply rejecting the existing system entirely. While a revolutionary Party shouldn’t put too much emphasis on electorialism, and sometimes an electoral boycott is in fact appropriate and beneficial, boycotting any and all elections (federal, provincial, municipal, etc.) no matter what doesn’t really embody tactical maneuverability and political finesse.³ The Party took a similarly absolutist position on existing unions.

So while the Party understood the necessity of building military capacity and working towards the violent overthrow of the capitalist State and social order, its actual “strategy” left a lot to be desired. It was largely a mechanical transplantation of foreign revolutionary strategies, ready-made formulas and dogmas, misapplied to Canada.

Yet it’s ultimately incorrect strategy at least came with truly revolutionary energy and tactics. The Party saw the necessity to “fight and confront the enemy”, both as a form of propaganda and experience-gaining, but also as a method of continually weeding out Right-wing, “cowardly activists who turn their back to the exploited.” It adapted and popularized it’s revolutionary (sometimes performative and/or anarchistic) tactics successfully to degree, carrying out what it called “revolutionary action among the masses”. The PCR-RCP quickly developed a reputation for being rowdy at demonstrations,⁴ for the occasional street brawl with riot cops, and for injecting some militancy into some workers’ strikes. But it under-prioritized the potential tactical advantages and mass-appeal of also adapting more above-board, legal tactics.

During this time the Party set up some young-activist-oriented mass organizations (the Red Youth Front, the Revolutionary Student Movement (MER-RSM), etc.) and eventually a bookstore in Montréal, the Maison Norman Bethune.

Meanwhile, the contradictions in Canadian society continued to worsen. The 2008-9 recession racked the peoples of Canada; the modern synthetic-drug epidemic was taking root; the imperialist’s “War on Terror” dragged on abroad and domestically; and the climate catastrophe began to really be felt. The global position of US-led (including Canadian) imperialism seemed to waver. At the same time the rise and popularization of the internet, social media, and mobile devices marked a categorical shift in the modes of communication (and surveillance).⁵ General anti-capitalist sentiment began to take hold again. Working people saw that this neoliberal capitalist shit is maybe running out of mileage.

In 2010, during the societal changes and spike in (a rather confused-yet-righteous) class consciousness, the leading faces of world imperialism met at the now-infamous G20 Summit in the GTA⁶. Instead of a warm welcome, the imperialist’s dumb meet-up was confronted by the peoples’ organized anti-capitalist, anti-colonial and anti-war rage. A short-lived but militant form of class struggle took shape; a “riot”.⁷

In the same year, in the same city, amidst the revolutionary upsurge and repressive crackdown, the PCR-RCP held a Canadian Revolutionary Conference. It was at this Conference when a bunch of GTA-based academics, middle-class activists, (and even petty landlords!?) calling themselves the “Social Revolution Party” (SRP) were permitted to join the PCR-RCP. With this merger, the PCR-RCP finally expanded outside Québec. Yet this quantitative advance would begin a qualitative degeneration of the Party.

2010 to 2017: zombification and Split

The newly-formed, English-speaking section of the PCR-RCP was largely headed by former members of the SRP group. They agreed with the Party’s Programme on paper, but in reality began dragging in non-Marxist and “Leftist” (academic, detached, radlib) ideas and habits into the Party. The new Anglo-Canada-based section wasn’t properly integrated into the Party nor was a two-line struggle properly systemized. Thus, the SRP’s non-revolutionary ways of thinking and doing were allowed to slowly metastasize; the Party’s zombification began.

Throughout the next few years the PCR-RCP (especially it’s English-speaking, academic faction) began to morph into a middle-class activist organization instead of a proletarian revolutionary Party. But it kept up it’s militant revolutionary image, (largely piggybacking off the reputation of the fighting, OG Québec-based cells).

Politically, the PCR-RCP’s Québec section clung to it’s erroneous line of “protracted people’s war” while the Anglo-Canadian, academic-led section sought to undermine it. Yet instead of correcting and advancing the PCR-RCP’s revolutionary strategy, the academic-led section simply attempted to completely liquidate the revolutionary direction of the Party. Specifically, though it’s development of some pitiful “strategy” it called the “Popular Action Movement”. It not only saw “protracted people’s war” as an incorrect strategy, but also effectively dismissed the necessity of slowly building the capacity for, and experience of, armed struggle over time. Revolutionary action took a backseat as the ultimate seizure of power was preached about but not worked towards.

Meanwhile the academics (already based in universities) greatly expanded the (formerly “independent”) Revolutionary Student Movement (MER-RSM). MER-RSM quickly spread across the country, mostly recruiting from Anglo-Canada and, due to the social, economic and ideological positioning of university students, mostly rallied behind the academic-led section of the Party.

The overall middle-class content of the Party continued to pull it in two different (yet equally-incorrect) directions. Some sections adapted dismissive, chauvinistic positions on women and trans people, while others took on non-Marxist, postmodernist, identity-based positions. Some advocated for the immediate primacy of physical clashes and “urban guerrilla warfare” while others strove to delay all forms of capacity-building and revolutionary violence (and thus revolution) indefinitely. Both sides advocated for different petty-bourgeois trends; adventurism (running ahead) and “Leftism” (spinning in place). There wasn’t a proper (socio-economic nor ideological) proletarian base to ground the Party and no organizational system to properly recognize nor resolve the brewing line struggle.

This internal dilemma came to a point with the Party’s 2017 conference. It was at this conference where the academic-led faction took over the Party’s Central Committee. The academic clique used its massive amount of representative members and former-members of MER-RSM to boost its votes. The OG Québec cells (which were still a large portion of the Party) shockingly found themselves with a weird revisionist, mostly-Anglophone, academic-oriented Central Committee (CC). This very quickly sent the Party into a deep internal dispute that would end in Splitsville.

In March of 2017 there was a small scuffle at the PCR-RCP’s Montréal Maison Norman Bethune bookstore between some supporters of the OG Québec line and some antagonizing supporters of the new academic line. Some of that Montréal rowdiness was directed towards alleged “comrades”, but no one was actually hurt. Either way, the academic-led CC saw that some people had been kicked out of a bookstore, and jumped on the opportunity, immediately expelling the four Québec-based members involved in the incident. No criticism nor self-criticism, no attempt to sort things out, just a self-admitted “heavy-handed” bureaucratic measure to get rid of some rowdy political opponents! In a hilarious turn, the so-called communists in control of the Central Committee attempted to justify the mass-expulsion by decrying the “use of violence to solve political disagreements” (?!). Again, no one was actually hurt. Also, surely the scuffle could be criticized without the purported revolutionary leaders (i.e. chicken-shit academics) decrying political “violence”?

So the bookstore “brawl” became the straw that broke the camel’s back. Within a week, the entire Québec District of the PCR-RCP publicly ceased recognition of the liberal-academic Central Committee, re-admitted the members that were expelled, and seized control of the Party’s Québec-based assets (the website, the Montréal bookstore, a stockpile of journals, some important internal documents, a large portion of the Party’s funds, etc.).⁸ Two months later, in May of 2017, the CC formally “expelled” the entire Québec District of the PCR-RCP (even though they had already effectively left the Party themselves, in March).

So the split was complete. From this point on the PCR-RCP consisted of a militant “Continuator” faction based in the province of Québec (centered in Montréal) and an academic-led “Pan-Canadian” faction based out of the GTA, Ottawa, Vancouver and other parts of English-speaking Canada.

2017 to 2021: Stumbling From Splitsville to Death Valley

After the split, the PCR-RCP was doomed. It was the beginning of the end, the initiation of a slow process that would lead to further zombification and eventually death. Neither side held correct political lines and neither side was properly based in the working class (ideologically nor socio-economically). They were both ill-prepared for the social, political and economic shifts (both in Canada and around the world), that were beginning to take place and which would continue into the 2020’s.

The Québec-based “Continuators”, the historical center of the PCR-RCP, rigidly upheld its dogmatic line of “protracted people’s war” while adapting twisted positions on women, trans people and Native peoples. They basically claimed that capitalism has or will solve the inequality and oppression faced by these groups. They also portrayed the struggle against gender-binary social norms as somehow oppositional to the struggle against patriarchy specifically, and capitalism generally. This “Left”-in-form, Right-in-essence political line served to exasperate contradictions within organization and between the org and the wider mass movement.

Meanwhile the academic-led, “Pan-Canadian” faction fell further and further into postmodernism, adapting more and more non-Marxist, radical-liberal ideas and practices. It’s pretentious academic leadership (particularly one Joshua Moufawad-Paul, known as JMP)⁹ developed a “theory” in which the main problems facing the people of Canada were “capitalism, settler-colonialism, and imperialism.” This “theory” mechanically split the system we live under into three separate pieces (?).¹⁰

The academics’ strange, compartmentalized concept of Canada (“capitalism, settler-colonialism, and imperialism”) was arbitrary and incorrect. It was not based on an objective analysis of Canada nor a theoretically coherent understanding of capitalism. It served only to confuse people and foster non-Marxist “strategies” and programs that narrowly focused in on one component-part, “settler-colonialism” (national and colonial oppression), white supremacy or patriarchy for example, while ignoring that these can only be overcome through overthrowing and revolutionizing the entire system that links and upholds them.

In addition to concocting stupid theories and muddying the waters, the academic “leaders” seemed to have spent their time Tweeting and pushing their own pretentious books to the membership.¹³ In theory and practice they acted more like “radical” grifters than commanders of a “revolutionary communist” organization. Meanwhile the general membership of the “Pan-Canadian” PCR-RCP got bogged down in internet-originated discourse politics and adapted more and more eclectic, non-revolutionary ideas.

Both factions dragged on throughout the latter 2010’s, having some sporadic successes.¹⁴ But both overall continued to deteriorate in their own distinct, petty-bourgeois ways. The political and organizational rotting that began in the 2000’s, was exasperated with the 2010 Revolutionary Conference merger, and culminated with the 2017 split, continued within each faction.

2021: The PCR-RCP’s Final Destination

The “Continuators” were boisterous and dogmatic to a fault, often isolating themselves from the masses.¹⁵ Internally, they proved incapable of developing politically and unwilling to resolve a growing line struggle. They blamed all their faults on external factors and failed to properly self-criticize or re-evaluate their now thoroughly-disproven “strategy”. Shortly after holding independent activities on May Day 2021, they dissolved without so much as a statement.

Meanwhile the academic-led “Pan-Canadian” PCR-RCP focused on pulling people away from revolutionary action, selling JMP’s books, and opportunistically forming international and domestic affiliations with anyone and everyone.¹⁶ They continued to bureaucratically “resolve” (worsen) internal contradictions between real communists and the petty-bourgeois leadership; between the Party and its student wing MER-RSM; and between the people and chauvinistic sex-pests, cops and weirdos within the movement and organization. Misapplied purges, top-down organizational reshufflings, and protecting/silencing campaigns proved ineffective (obviously). Many members began to debate whether the Party was in need of a rectification campaign or a complete reconstitution.

Yet, zombified and petty-bourgeois to its core, it ended up doing neither. The “Pan-Canadian” PCR-RCP (and its affiliated Revolutionary Student Movement) dissolved shortly after the “Continuators”, in November 2021. It’s Ottawa-Gatineau cell dragged on alone for a few months before also succumbing for the same reasons the “Pan-Canadian” organization did.

R.I.P. the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR-RCP)

(2000 ~ 2021)

The second main Marxist-Leninist-Maoist grouping in Canada during the 2000’s and 2010’s was Revolutionary Initiative (RI). It emerged out of the GTA’s “activist” scene. Some self-educated, new-found comrades broke from reformism and opportunism to set about attempting to build a new, truly revolutionary organization (and presumably Party).

Early 2000’s-2017: a Half-Start

In their early days the group that would go on to form RI thought about joining with the PCR-RCP’s Organizing Committees. But they decided against it after studying the PCR-RCP’s Program and experiencing their dogmatism and bravado firsthand. They were especially concerned by the PRC-RCP’s confused conception of “protracted people’s war” and “base building”. Thus, Revolutionary Initiative formalized in 2007, remaining independent while maintaining “fraternal” ties to the PCR-RCP.

Throughout its existence RI contributed some solid ideas to the revolutionary movement, yet it failed to make a proper class analysis or develop a revolutionary strategy. Beyond appealing to the middle classes, RI even considered Canada’s “non-imperialist” bourgeoisie as potential allies in our revolutionary overthrowing of the Canadian State! (Repeating a mistake taken up by the CPC in the 1940’s). It adapted a social service orientation (under the guise of “Serving the People”), prioritized building a broad United Front (instead of a Party!), and failed to proletarianize itself. It quickly fell back into petty-bourgeois methods of work, “activism” and movementism. It suffered from a lack of internal discipline and proper proletarian leadership and failed to grapple with and reject “Leftist”, non-Marxist positions that cropped up.

Emblematic of its petty-bourgeois class composition and orientation was the fact that RI permitted, quote “too much “do-your-own-thing’ism” and small-project initiatives with no central guidance or strategic plan.” In virtually all respects the organization resembled a collective of well-meaning-but-detached intellectuals, not a proletarian revolutionary pre-Party formation. It began to catch on to its mistakes around 2015 and thus initiated a pretty hectic, 2-year-long internal line struggle.

Some spin-offs of the PCR-RCP and RI

As the zombified PCR-RCP and RI died off, some of their spewed guts reassembled into some truly decrepit groups. These non-revolutionary groups include(d): 1) remnant-formations of the “Continuators”, 2) the “Communist Workers’ Front”, 3) the “(New) Communist Party of Canada”, and 4) various “Maoist” Third-Worldist groups. Let’s do a quick rundown to see what exactly these hell these weird, petty-bourgeois spin-offs have been up to over the past few years.

Now let us pick up from where our overview of Revolutionary Initiative and the journal kites left off. In 2021, zombified remnants from the PCR-RCP (!) were let into the kites project through the Canadian (formerly RI) faction of the Editorial Committee. The OCR-US was rightly skeptical of these former-PCR-RCP members, but mistakenly trusted the reassurances put forward by the Canadian (RI) side.

Long story short, the newly PCR-RCP/RI Canadian faction of the Editorial Committee opportunistically used the prolific journal to boost its image and credibility. It then rejected basically everything kites stood for, formed some pitiful thing called the “(New) Communist Party of Canada ((N)CPC)”, and attempted to hijack the journal.

In January of 2024 the “(N)CPC” managed to publish its eclectic Program on the kites website. It contained some of the worst, most reactionary positions of the 2000-2010’s revolutionary movement alongside some even dumber, newly-conceived ones. It was chalked full of many liberal, “Leftist” and anarchist ideas masquerading as “Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.” In an effort to protect the kites legacy from the deluded politics of the “(N)CPC”, the quick-thinking American comrades made some moves. They quickly discontinued the journal, with the OCR-US picking up where kites left off by setting up the even more finely-tuned Going Against the Tide in its place.

After destroying kites, the “(N)CPC” published one dribble-filled issue of their own shit-stain “journal” in early 2025. In it they made a joke of themselves by filling its pages with Wikipedia-inspired garbage and even going so far as polemically lashing out at the OCR. The OCR responded by exposing the idiocy and wrecking actions of the “(N)CPC” in detail, through Going Against the Tide‘s must-read “They not like us: On the (Nostalgic) Communist Party of Canada’s rapid descent into a self-made swamp of economism, sycophantism, Trotskyism, and opportunism.” The “(N)CPC” never responded, nor recovered from this diss track.

After spitting out one sad issue of its journal and a receiving a well-deserved bashing from the OCR, the “(N)CPC” fuckin’ vanished into thin air. Aha, good riddance!

The whole “(N)CPC” debacle was one of the most embarrassing and damaging developments in Canada’s entire third party-building movement (1990’s-2025). Not only did it backtrack significantly in it’s theory, it had the practical impact of ending North America’s leading revolutionary communist journal and severing friendly cross-border ties to our comrades to the south, (before quickly crawling back into whatever sewer it crawled out of).

Since the dissolution of the PCR-RCP, RI and most of their putrid remnants, one of the more preeminent forces within our revolutionary communist movement has (unfortunately) been the “Maoist” Third-Worldists. They’re an expression of what Kenny Lake calls cheerleaders for the “good guys” abroad.²⁰

In a nutshell, they purport to believe in the necessity of making revolution (even alleging an adherence to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!), while falsely asserting that it has to happen in the “Third-World” (oppressed nations and exploited countries) first. They cheer on struggles for national-liberation and socialism abroad, insisting that those struggles must succeed before we even attempt to build forces and work towards revolution in the imperial core (in our case Canada/US). If actually making revolution in Canada is mentioned to these “communists”, all of a sudden they turn into the most passive and pessimistic liberals!

It’s the old “the conditions aren’t right for revolution” argument rearing its ugly head again. Third-Worldists posit that since Canada is mostly middle-class (well-off workers or petty-bourgeois) and the lower proletariat constitutes only a minority of the populace (about 30%) then revolution is “impossible”. Have they forgot that the Bolsheviks made revolution in a country in which the working-class was a minority (vastly outnumbered by peasants)? Have they forgot about alliance-building? Have they forgot how during revolutionary upheavals large swaths of the population can remain “neutral”, allowing more active, smaller forces to have a disproportionate sway in how things play out?

Obviously imperialist Canada is rife with contradictions and more than objectively ready for revolution. The question is about building the subjective forces to make it happen! “The conditions aren’t right, we shouldn’t even try” is a defeatist talking point that counterrevolutionaries have been propagating (in different forms) for literally over a hundred years! It’s worth mentioning that over the same time there’s been dozens of successful revolutions, oftentimes in countries where it was previously proclaimed “impossible”!

Moving on. Okay so it’s obviously right to support resistance and liberatory movements and organizations around the world. And of course we should practice international solidarity by educating ourselves on people’s struggles around the world and by developing ties, fighting our own bourgeoisie’s involvement and complicity, and by celebrating the international proletariat’s wins. Yet it’s generally incorrect to divert all of an organization’s energy and revolutionary potential to struggles abroad, where it isn’t based.

This is for the simple reason that in the country where an org is based it has the revolutionary potential of being part of the primary (working-class) or perhaps secondary (middle-class) force in making revolution. In a country overseas, it can only hope to be a forth-removed revolutionary force (behind the country’s own 1. proletariat, 2. revolutionary middle-class strata, and 3. class traitors of its bourgeoisie or standing army). In effect, Third-Worldists limit their revolutionary potential. One can generally make a bigger impact where they live than someplace overseas.

Working and dispossessed people can only really make revolution where they live. Thus it’s the duty of their advanced strata and vanguard to assist them in that struggle, not to completely abandon them for foreign struggles already with their own organizations, leadership, cadre, Program, etc. As Marx so plainly stated in the Manifesto,

Though not in substance, yet in form, the struggle of the proletariat with the bourgeoisie is at first a national struggle. The proletariat of each country must, of course, first of all settle matters with its own bourgeoisie.

On top of that, smashing the imperialist Canadian State and seizing the means of production here would actually serve the oppressed peoples of the world immensely more than narrowly-focused solidarity campaigns ever can or will.²¹ We can (and should!) actually and fully stop the Canadian war machine by cutting it off at its roots, here! But the “Maoist” Third-Worldists sidestep this revolutionary responsibility but shrugging their shoulders and mumbling that it’s “impossible”.

The “Maoist” Third-Worldists opportunistically shroud their defeatism and passiveness with revolutionary language, often seeking to legitimize themselves through their ties to far-away organizations that hold truly revolutionary strategies (at least historically and/or domestically like the CPP, the PFLP, etc.). But we can see that in general, young people in the imperial core who join “Maoist” Third-Worldist groups,

. . . are only getting trained in liberalism (while, ironically, being encouraged to study Mao’s essay Combat Liberalism) and even capitulation (by way of using international solidarity work to give up on revolution in their own countries), squandering their revolutionary potential.²²

Moreso, the “Maoist” Third-Worldist groups in Canada are completely top-down, cliquey, and undemocratic. They have become infamous for harbouring sex-pests and weirdos from the defunct PCR-RCP and MER-RSM crowd. They don’t seem to understand (or care about) how they’ve cultivated a bad reputation within the movement, and how that poor reputation oftentimes isolates them politically.

All-in-all the “Maoist” Third-Worldist groups are opportunist. Opportunism in revolutionary strategy (it has to happen somewhere else first), in organization (anyone can join and everything’s online) and in ideology (anyone can take any position on any issue as long as they support the struggle in [insert oppressed country here]). As such, these orgs are crowded with an eclectic bunch of radlibs, posers, “Leftists” and Trotskyites. They remain staunchly subordinated to foreign Parties and hodge-podge international groups, and firmly committed to not even attempting to make revolution in Canada.

Some lessons to be learned from Canada’s third party-building movement

The experiences of our third party-building movement (1990’s-2025) reveal a number of lessons to us.

1. Watch Out, “Leftism” Alert!

Middle-class “Leftism” is not even close to being revolutionary; it’s actually reactionary. Postmodernism, radical-liberalism, anarcho-whatever, progressivism, decolonial discourse and the like, are tools of the bourgeoisie. They’re loved by the powers that be as radical-sounding but ultimately system-compatible modes of thought. These forms of thinking and doing don’t fundamentally threaten capitalism, instead they serve to safely redirect the people’s just rage and rising class consciousness away from socialist revolution. As we’ve seen, many of these “Leftist” trends have successfully colluded to completely dilute the science of revolution while rendering near-meaningless the labels of “communist”, “Marxist”, and even “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist”!

“Leftism” is pushed by the imperialists in order to sidetrack people, water down communism, and encite trouble within revolutionary organizations. “Leftists” are ideological and political opponents, not allies (and surely not comrades!). In cases where “Leftism” positions itself as wholly-reactionary and anticommunist, it functions as an enemy, straight-up.

2. The (Relatively) Comfortable Middle Classes Won’t and Can’t Lead the Revolution

Given the imperialist, corrupting nature of Canada, the revolutionary Party has to be built up and consolidated within the hard-pressed (lower) proletariat, and those falling down into the hard-pressed proletariat. It has to be firmly rooted in the working and dispossessed masses; the bottom third or so of society. Not in academia, not in the middle-class “activist” scene, not in the union bureaucracy, nor in Canada’s small, glorified “industrial working class”²³.

The above-listed sections of the well-off proletariat are ultimately exploited by the system, but it has been setup in a way in which their interests and political proclivities tend to waver, sometimes conforming with those of the Canadian ruling classes and their State. Thus, in the long run it’ll be necessary to win many over, but they cannot comprise the bulk of the revolutionary Party.

3. First Build the Proletarian Party, then the United Front

A United Front with revolutionary members of the middle classes (the well-off proletariat and petty-bourgeoisie) has to be built under the leadership of the hard-pressed proletariat. To do so, the Party first has to work on animating the lower classes, making them an organized and powerful political force, and consolidating a disciplined working-class vanguard. This is so United Front activities and the interests of the middle classes are subordinated to those of the hard-pressed proletariat, and not the other way around.

The Party must stand strong on its own before it can properly lead a broader, multi-class United Front. Otherwise, it will be swamped by less-than-revolutionary elements.

4. And Don’t Forget the Armed Wing!

The armed capabilities and experience of the proletariat must be developed (carefully of course!). At first militants are “armed” with fists, sticks, spray paint, simple hand tools, some homemade implements, perhaps some powered equipment. For us in the imperial core, armed struggle begins as a secondary form of struggle. It begins as mission-specific groups (that exist on a temporary basis) doing actions that are overall assistive to the main legal-political struggle (antifascist activities, protection, land and community defense, retaliation, occupations and blockades, illegal propaganda, sabotage, expropriations, etc.).

While our struggle is primarily a legal struggle (at least at this stage, for the time being), the revolutionary Party does in fact have to build up the proletariat’s capacity for fighting fascism and overthrowing the State. It has to: advance Canada-specific revolutionary strategy; sort out logistical networks and connections; enhance cadres’ skillsets; and perhaps most importantly in the beginning, creatively develop covert communication methods and tactics. This would mean systemizing things like codewords, handwritten reports, secret meet-up locations, dead drops, word-of-mouth, etc., with an overall limiting of dependance on electronics (spyware) for internal affairs.

Above all, 1) legal and illegal actions and organizations should always be kept apart, (no “concentric militarized communist Party”!) and 2) some things should just be done on a need-to-know basis. We should neither be adventurist nor ill-prepared and inexperienced.

Let’s struggle for a bolder, truly revolutionary movement in Canada!

Referenced Journals, Publications and Archives

Arsenal, “The Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party.”[archivesrevolutionnaires.com/documents-numerises]. #1-10, Oct. 2003-Summer 2018.

For a Communist Workers Front, posts from the CWF(OC) and “CPC(Red Faction)”, [communistworkers.wordpress.com]. Apr. 2021-Apr. 2025.

Going Against the Tide, “A Journal Charting a Path for Communist Revolution in the US.” [goingagainstthetide.org]. #1-5, May 2024-July 2025.

ISKRA, “le journal du Parti communiste révolutionnaire (PCR-RCP).” [iskra-pcr-rcp.ca]. Jan. 2018-May 2021.

kites, “a journal of communist theory and strategy.” [kites-journal.org]. #1-8, Jan. 2020-Mar. 2023.

Les Cahiers du Réseau, “in support of the formation of the Network of worker’s committees.“[maisonnormanbethune.ca]. #1-2, Apr. 2022-Aug. 2022. (Use was also made of the Maison Norman Bethune‘s published documents and archives).

Parti communiste révoultionnaire – Revolutionary Communist Party, posts from the “Pan-Canadian” PCR-RCP, [pcrrcp.ca]. May 2017-Nov. 2021.

Uprising, “Journal of Revolutionary Initiative.” [revintcan.wordpress.com]. #1-8, 2009-Summer 2017.